


Protea

by TalesOfOnyxBats



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Memory Loss, Recovery, flower shop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28000791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalesOfOnyxBats/pseuds/TalesOfOnyxBats
Summary: Azula disappears into the Forgetful Valley. Years later, while helping her Aunt run a flower shop, Mai has a run in with a rather bold and bizarre woman who decides to help her run her flower shop.
Relationships: Azula/Mai (Avatar)
Comments: 68
Kudos: 112





	1. Tuberose

**Author's Note:**

> Kay so Mai/Azula fic passed the interest check on tumblr lol. So fuck it, four long fics!!! Someone should probably stop me. But if four ends up being too much, this one will probably be put on hold until the others are finished.

_ “I’ve lied about a lot of things, but not about this.”  _

_ “That’s the thing about lying a lot. Even the truth becomes a lie…”  _

_ She swallows. She thinks that it was over before it started even if she didn’t know. Even if neither of them did. But this wasn’t a lie and the bits that were sure felt like the truth. _

**.oOo.**

The capital is quite lively today, Mai supposes that it makes sense enough considering that it is the fire lord’s birthday. She can’t say that she has any such mirth for herself. This isn’t especially unusual, people are generally hard pressed to find something that does spark her amusement even faintly. All of this festivity, however, leaves her feeling more bleak than usual. 

“Hippo-ox tail skewer?” A vendor offers. 

She shakes her head and pushes her way through the crowd. The delighted shrieks of children are grating on her ears. She grits her teeth, what she would give to be at home again. Even endeavor of selling nauseatingly bright flowers would beat wandering around The Capital, being bombarded by constant reminders of the man she’d let go of.  _ He isn’t so great. _ She reminds herself. And his family certainly isn’t one that she’d like to marry into. Decidedly she is doing herself a service by staying as far away from Zuko as she can. She casts a glance over her shoulder to where the palace looms both mockingly and majestically. Clearly she isn’t making good on keeping that distance. But it can’t exactly be helped, not when Aunt Mura is in desperate need of sales. 

She sighs and replaces the ‘at lunch’ sign with an ‘open’ sign. For what it’s worth, the festival is doing wonders for Mura’s shop. She supposes that a few days of taxing hustle and bustle will be worth it in the long run, especially if it means that she will have more time to relax when all is said and done. 

She lazily plucks a single flower and twirls in between her fingers. Honestly, what a drag. At least back in her home village, Mura or Tom-Tom would keep her company while she waited for a customer to approach. 

She drums her fingers on the wood as she inhales fragrant gardenia and lily of the valley. The wind blows a helping of petals towards the ground, she will let the flowers be their own sales pitch. Contrary to what Mura believes, Mai is inclined to say that these flowers do sell themselves. 

She sets her flower aside and looks up. There is a girl, a small thing, approaching the stall. Which is well enough but she is approaching too speedily. Actually it is more of a charge or a sprint than it is an innocent little stroll. 

Mai cringes, she watches the girl leap over a cart of furs and onto a cabbage stall. The man gives a forlorn yelp, “my cabbages!” She is almost certain that she has heard that wail before. She shrugs, at least it wasn’t her stall. 

But the girl isn’t finished she very nearly topples the flimsy stall as she bounds away, weaving in and out of the crowd. For a moment, Mai thinks that she has dodged a poisoned dart. The girl disappears into the crowd, the moment of excitement she had brought dissipates with her.

Mai shrugs again, “oh well.” She rests her elbow on the counter and her cheek in her palm. How truly boring. She supposes that she was bound to have at least one slower day. It usually is slow after lunch when everyone is rushing to the more exciting festival activities…

“Hey!”

Mai jolts, knocking a flower pot from the counter. The girl catches it and puts it back in place with a grin. “Okay, so I saved your honeysuckles…”

“They’re tuberoses.”

The girl nods. “Okay, so I saved your tuberoses, I’m a real hero so I was hoping you can do me a favor.” 

Mai blinks. 

“I’m gonna pretend like I care about these flowers…”

“You and me both.” Mai grumbles. 

“And I’m gonna pretend like I’m about to buy one.”

“Or you could actually buy one.”

The girl feels her pockets. “I guess I can, but only if this works.” 

“What works?” 

“Well, I may have gotten into it with the Iwaken boys again. Except this time all four of them are here.” She rubs the back of her head and flashes a lopsided grin. She is missing a tooth, the one next to her right canine. 

“I take it you don’t want them to knock out more of your teeth.”

The girl laughs. “They aren’t quite that strong. No, this happened elsehow.”

“Then why don’t you, I don’t know, go fight them?” 

The girl shrugs. “I gotta pick my battles.”

Mai looks her up and down. Head to toe she is covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Scuffs of dirt streak her pants and splotch her face. “New development?” 

“Huh?” 

“Nevermind.” Mai rolls her eyes. 

“Thanks!” The girl declares.

Mai quirks a brow. “For what.”

“For helping.” She gestures to four rather burly looking boys. “I think that they bought it. They’d never guess that I’d be looking at flowers.” 

Mai eyes the tuberose that the girl is brushing her fingers over. If only she’d bought it. If only anyone would just buy a flower already! “Look, kid, if you aren’t going to buy anything…” 

This time the girl blinks. “I’m not a child. I’m nineteen. Twenty, in a few weeks. At least that’s what they told me.”

Now there’s a head scratcher. “Other people told you your age?”

“It’s a long story.” She taps her finger to the corner of her mouth. “I don’t remember the whole thing though.” 

“Great. Well, I’ve got a business to run…” 

“I can help!” She declares and holds up her coin pouch. “I’m running a little low.” 

Mai sighs. “Fine.”

At least things might be less drab with this woman around. 

“I’m Mai.”

“That’s a pretty name.” 

“Thank you.” Mai replies. She watches the woman lean against the stall. “Well?” She asks after a while.

“Well what?”

“What is your name?”

“Oh. I don’t have one of those.” She flashes another smile as though she hasn’t uttered the most bizarre thing that Mai has heard all week.


	2. Creeping Phlox

_ It hurts. It hurts terribly. Agonizingly.  _

_ She sinks deeper and deeper and the water around her seems to bubble and boil.  _

_ She sees a face and then several of them and then many more. They all watch her.  _

_ They are all around her but her gaze is still fixed on the first one. It is quite lovely. Lovely and terrifying in synchrony. Like an erupting volcano it is intense, splendid, and promising of demise. That face fades into the background and the others circle around her. _

_ For a moment her vision is obscured by a thick cloud of bubbles. They flit and flick about like moth-wasps. She thinks that she can hear them buzzing. When they clear the faces are all scowling at her. They are twisted and ugly.  _

_ Evil. _

_ They want something. _

_ They all swarm closer. _

_ Closer… _

_ Closer… _

She bolts upright and shakes her head. It doesn’t matter how much or how hard she shakes it, the dream never leaves her head. It is always there replaying in different variations and tones. But those faces, they are always there. Always watching. Sometimes she feels them watching her well into waking. She shudders. It is still dark out, she ought to roll on over and get back to sleep. Especially now that she has a new job. She smiles to herself, Mohi will be proud if she can make this one work. Especially since she hasn’t really been able to hold a job; if it wasn’t tardiness it was getting mouthy with her employer. If it wasn’t snark and wits it was brawling on the job. And sometimes that wasn’t even her fault, sometimes they just came to her. She thinks that this is why Mohi moved from Hira’a to the Capital. Something about a fresh start and no enemies. 

She sits still for some time, staring at the moonrays that spill through the cracked window. The draft that comes through it is cool on her face, refreshingly so after so many sweltering Fire Nation nights. 

She stretches her arms and pulls herself out of bed. Ultimately she has no desire to plunge back into the waters of her nightmare. Slipping out of the house isn’t so difficult, Mohi and her sons sleep heavy. She wishes that she could do the same but she supposes that being up so early has its perks. Namely she can slink about the city and swipe a few goods from mostly unmonitored food carts and trinket stalls. And when she isn’t in a swiping sort of mood she can jump from roof to roof, swing from railing to balcony, leap over walls and on top of stacks of crates. It is a hobby but it keeps her both fit and entertained. It gives her something to feel special about when Zenyul and Kaz overzealously dance around with their flames. 

She takes a step into the cracked city streets. They are littered with trash, mostly discarded posters, broken glass, and piles of excess coal that the factories were too lazy to carry out of the city. Apparently the outskirts worked just as well, out of sight out of mind; really there was no harm, the outskirts of Capital City are already dirty.

The wind carries the scent of sulfur and factory waste as it smacks against her face. She bunches her nose and gives a little cough, she hates windy days. This doesn’t really matter either, she will be in the inner city soon enough and the offensive odors will transition into more pleasurable scents like sizzling skewers, poignant spices, and upper class perfumes.

She finds herself a building to scale. Find might not be the best way to put it, she has found this building quite some time ago and it had quickly become her favorite with its rickety and rusty ladder and its crumbling smoke stacks. On the first week it had been something of a playground to her and she is still discovering little quirks and treasures within; new places to climb up or crawl into. Height, or lack there of gives her the ability to slip into all of those tight places. All the while it makes it harder for her to reach certain places, she has yet to reach the top of the tallest smoke stack. She has climbed it from the inside but it had eventually grown too tight even for her. From the outside, she can never quite stretch her arm far enough to reach a possible handhold. 

She promises herself that she will make it up there one day. For now she settles for climbing as high as she can.

From her new vantage point, she feels free. Free and above people she otherwise never would be. The inner city skyline glistens like gold or sunshine or something pretty and poetic, she never really has the right words for it. But it is splendid, a goal even higher and less reachable than getting to the top of the smokestack. Most opulantly of all is the palace palace. She spies it’s gleaming multi-tiered roof. Even without the sunlight to cast it in the most flattering light, it still sparkles and glints and outshines the rest of the city. 

By the time she shimmies her way down the smokestack her hands and clothes are as dirty and smudged as the palace is pristine. Her feet meet the floor with a dust-kicking thud. She wipes her hands on her pants and climbs back over the fence. She ought to make her way into the inner city before the sun can rise and spoil her fun. 

She makes it there with the ease and quickness that only familiarity and routine can provide. It still takes a good hour or so, but she has leaned the quick routes and the ones that take her past the street gangs and their drug trades. 

This is the trip that finally wears a hole in her shoe, just one more tatter among many. She guesses that that’s what her new job will get her first. The vendors almost never leave shoes, clothes, and jewelry unsurveyed. 

She ought not with her shoes growing battered, but she can’t resist scrambling up a pile of crates and discarded boards. She balances upon a beam that has yet to be thrown out. With luck, they will drop it off at the old industrial factory so that she can have more discarded war machines and parts to enjoy. She leaps from the beam to a balcony. It is always a risk to use the inner city balconies, sometimes they spot her. Granted she is too quick for them to catch her so she doesn’t fret it too much.

She worries over other things. And she can’t seem to outpace them no matter how many buildings she weaves in and out of. The thoughts follow her and the more she thinks on it, the less she feels she is suited for this new job. It had been such an impulse volunteering. She’s no good for it and the woman running the shop didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic to have an assistant. She can’t imagine that she’d be particularly hurt if she didn’t show. 

**.oOo.**

Mai inhales deeply. She shouldn’t be surprised that the woman hasn’t shown up. It was a joke or an attempt to blend in until whoever had it out for her had come to pass. Mai thinks that it is mostly her own fault for humoring the woman and then getting her hopes up. For putting her faith in someone who clearly takes few things seriously. But she has quite stupidly brought an excess of flowers under the impression that she’d be having help. 

She turns around and lifts the first few flower pots to be arranged and scoffs when she finds that one of them has broken, spilling dirt everywhere. She hears the shuffle of feet on cobblestone. “I’m not open yet.” She grumbles without averting her gaze from the mess. 

“‘S fine, I’m not here to buy anything. But I can clean that up for you, my hands are already dirty.”

“I didn’t think that you were going to show up.”

“Me neither.” She shrugs. She stoops down and begins pushing the dirt into a neat pile. 

“I have a broom.”

“And I have hands that work just fine.”

Mai rolls her eyes, “If that’s how you want to do it.” She shrugs. 

“It’s already done.” The woman declares. 

Mai looks at the woman’s dirty hands and sighs. “You’re going to have to clean them…”

The woman quirks a brow, rubs her hands on her pants, and lifts them up. 

“Close enough.” Mai grumbles. “Help me set this up.” She gestures to the flower pots. 

The woman nods. “I’m pretty good at arranging things.” 

“I usually put the poppy and violets in the front and…” 

The woman is already arranging them in her own way. “I think that these yellow ones look nice by these orange ones. Pinks also go nice with them. Like a sunset, ya know? And we should put the bright ones in front because they’ll draw more attention.” She moves a few deeply colored violets and poppy and switches them out for the dahlia, marigold, and fire lily.

“Ugg, the bright ones make me nauseous.” 

“But they make your customers notice the stall. See.” She points to a couple wandering near.

“I guess.” Mai shrugs before turning to her customers. For some time they mutter between themselves occasionally pointing at one flower or another. The woman seems to watch them with much more intensity than she ought. 

“I don’t know…” Says the man as he strokes his chin. His companion shuffles on her feet and shrugs. “Well what do you think she’d like?” He asks. 

His companion gives another shrug. “She’s your sister.”

Mai drums her fingers upon the counter, she wishes that people would decide what flowers to get  _ before  _ they approach her stall.

“What are the flower for?” The woman asks. 

“My sister just had a baby.” 

“Lilies!” The woman declares and picks up a potful of white lily. 

“Why lily?” Asks the man’s companion. 

“They’re soft and pretty like babies.” The woman declares quite boldly. Mai rolls her eyes, much too boldly for something that sounds like improvisation. “Lilies are supposed to represent innocence.”

“Really?” The man asks. 

The woman nods. “Back in Hira’a I knew a woman who had a garden. She always said that lilies are pure, especially the white ones.” 

“What do you think?” The man’s companion asks.

Mai shrugs. “Yeah, lilies are soft and pure.”

“Sounds good to me.” The man passes her a few coins as the woman hands his partner the flowerpot. 

Mai watches them wander back into the crowd. Truthfully, she doesn’t think that she has ever gotten a customer so soon after opening. “Maybe you’re right about putting the bright flowers in front.” She admits. She also finds herself admitting that the woman reminds her of her aunt in a way, prattling about what characteristics each flower represents. 

“It’s all about presentation!” She declares. “You arrange them all nice and pretty and then you talk about what each one is supposed to mean, draws people right in.”

“Have you sold flowers before?”

She shakes her head. “I sold other things though. Rocks and trinkets, stuff I found laying around, and fireworks. Lots of fireworks.” 

So the woman is a scavenger. “I swear to Agni, if you’re one of those people who gets all crazy over shiny things, I’m gonna puke.” 

“Want me to get you an empty flowerpot?” 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I got lots of shiny things, see.” She pulls her necklace out from under her shirt. Each charm--though she uses charm quite loosely--is fixed on a thick rope cord. She sees a bent and slightly rusty spoon, a key, a few beads, a dull razor blade, and small shards of metal. The woman tucks it back under her shirt before she can pick out any more knick knacks. 

“Interesting.” 

“Thanks, I made it myself.”

Mai nods and folds her arms across her chest. “So you really don’t have a name?” 

“That’s right.” The woman nods. 

“Then what am I supposed to call you?” 

“Most people just say, ‘hey, you!’ or ‘streetrat!’ Mohi and her sons usually just tap me on the shoulder or something.” 

“Do you actually answer to streetrat?” 

“Sure. I don’t really care what people call me.” She gives a dismissive hand gesture. 

“I’m not going to call you that…” Mai trails off. Something in her stirs with discomfort or maybe bitterness on behalf of the woman. She’s much too energetic, disorganized, and somewhat grubby but she’s got determination and diligence. Truth be told, Mai thinks that she has an intelligence about her, one that might be lost on even she. “I don’t think that you’re a streetrat.”

She gives a hum. “Not entirely, no. Coulda been though.” She pauses. “You can name me if you want.”

Mai blinks, “you want me...to name you?”

“Sure, if that makes things easier.” 

“I can’t just come up with a name for you on the spot.”

“Sure you can, people do it all the time.” 

“Well I want to call you something that fits you.”

“How are you gonna decide what fits?”

“I guess it’ll come to me when I get to know you better.” 

Her eyes seem to light up. “I can take you to the industrial park after you close the shop.” 

“What?”

“Yeah, I don’t have much going on and Mohi doesn’t mind me going there as long as I come home first, ya know, so she knows that I’m not dead or something. She gets worried that the  Iwaken are gonna get me.” She pauses. “So I’ll say hello to Mohi and then we can go to the industrial park.”

Mai very nearly groans; she hadn’t meant to talk her way into a spontaneous outing with a bizarre character, and at an probably dirty and shady industrial park of all places. She opens her mouth to decline but the woman is looking at her with such delight…

“I haven’t been able to make many friends since coming to Capital City, everyone is so uptight here.” 

This time Mai does groan. “Alright, fine. We can go to the industrial park.” She very well could suggest a trip to a restaurant or to a nature path or something of a more mundane variety. But Agni if she hasn’t been longing for a break from the monotony. Things have been rather drab without any national catastrophes and with TyLee having off with the Kyoshi warriors again. 

The woman flashes her a grin and Mai thinks that she might have just made the right decision. “We can always close early and…”

“Nice try. You have a full day of work ahead of you.”


	3. Germanium

The anticipation had been steadily building. Building until the woman looked as though she were ready to burst with it. She decided that she could no longer put off going to that industrial park with her. And that is how she has come to find herself standing in the empty husk of a war-machine factory.

“Well, what do you think?” She asks with a wide sweeping gesture.

“I think that it’s...uh...abandoned.” Mai answers. 

She nods, “yup! I haven’t seen a soul here since I found it. I reckon that it’s mine. Ya know, ‘cept for that it isn’t actually mine. But I have it all to myself ‘cause no one else is using it.” 

“I can see that.” Mai says. 

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Do you like it?” 

Mai gives the place another all over scan. “It’s fine, I guess. I usually don’t got to abandoned factories and industrial parks.” She cringes when the woman’s face seems to fall. “Look, it’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that, you’re probably going to notice that I’m not enthusiastic about...things.” 

“Oh.” The woman mumbles. “Guess we’re opposites then. I think most things are exciting.” 

And maybe that’s the allure of this woman. That she takes joy in picking up a new thimble to toss on her pile of shiny things. Faintly, she wishes that she could be more like this woman. Perhaps life wouldn’t be so drab if the prospect of climbing over a rusty fence was thrilling. 

“You said that you were going to show me your collection?”

Her smile comes back, but not quite as full as her other grins from that morning. Mai makes a promise to try to muster up at least some enthusiasm. “Follow me, it’s up here.” she says. She leaps onto a pile of discarded and rusting metal rafters. “It’s a bit of a climb.” Everything seems to be a bit of a climb with her and Mai has a sneaking suspicion that, that is exactly how she likes it. She leaps onto a rather perilously loose ladder. It shakes and shudders beneath her weight. Mai’s stomach lurches some, the higher that the woman ascends. The girl is so small and nimble, lanky; if that ladder is wobbly and unstable even under her, Mai can’t possibly see it withstanding her weight. 

“You coming!” The woman shouts down. Her voice echos about the building, bouncing from wall to wall in what must be the most bizarre display of acoustics she has ever heard from a building. 

“I don’t know. Could you bring it down here?”

The woman peeks her head out of the little annex that she has squeezed herself into. “Well, sher, I would ‘cept that there’s way too much.” 

Mai can already see her expression dimming further. She sighs, “I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Great. Jus’ be careful with rung five!” 

The corner of Mai’s mouth pulls back into a half grimace. “Rung five. Understood.” She mumbles. 

The ladder rocks and sways precariously as she makes her way upwards. She doesn’t think she has come across a ladder with this many rungs and sharp edges. Decidedly, this place is a death trap of rust and metallic decay. It is the sort of place that her mother and father alike would be horrified to find her in. And suddenly she is quite sure of her footing and quite thrilled to be her with this bizarre creature dressed in human skin.

Said creature extends an arm and helps Mai the rest of the way up. 

There are many descriptors that Mai could use to describe the glistening, glinting clutter all around her. But ‘nest’ is the most accurate. At first glimpse, ‘hoard’ came to mind. But ‘nest’ is definitely more befitting, right down to the carpet of straw that the woman has laid down, presumably a substitute for carpeting. It smells of sawdust and oil. And eroding metal, lots of eroding metal. 

Suddenly Mai is potently aware of why the woman always shows up to work with her face smudged and her clothing streaked. 

“So this is my special place. Even if they tear the place apart no one’ll find me in here. ‘S where I go when people come chasing after me.”

“Why do people chase after you?”

She hums, “lets just say that sometimes I find out some stuff weren’t trash.” She holds up a small silver brooch with gleaming rubies. 

Genuine rubies. 

“Why don’t you sell that?” 

“Cause I like it, that’s why.” She shrugs.

“You can buy so many meals with that.” 

“Or I could get a job at a flower stall and buy food that way.” She grins. “And I don’t even have to sell none of my treasures.” She gestures to a pile. A notably large pile. 

“How long did you say that you’ve been living in the capital.” 

“Two months.” 

“I take it that you started this stasch back in…”

“Hira’a. Yup!” She declares. “That pile right there is everything I brought from Hira’a.” She points to what has to be the smallest rubbish heap in the room. “Everything else ‘s from here.” 

Mai blinks. “H-how?” 

“I got lotsa time ‘n people here throw out lotsa stuff. Kinda wasteful.” She puts her hands on her hips. “But that’s just dandy for me. ‘Cause that means I get to bring it here.”

“Aren’t you worried that you’re going to get caught.” 

The woman shakes her head. “I don’t make mistakes often. Most of this really is stuff I found just lying on the ground...or stuff that people threw at me.” She holds up a well-loved ladle. “Like this. The lady weren’t all too happy when she caught me stealing one’a her bowls of soup.”

This gets a chuckle out of her. “So she threw a ladle at you?” 

“Mmhm. ‘N she was yelling at me to give it back. But I said it were mine ‘because she threw it to me.”

“There’s a difference between ‘at you’ and ‘to you’, you know that right?”

The woman shakes her head, “I’m just a dumb, dirty peasent, remember.” She flashes a goofy smile. 

A clever, crafty dumb peasent. “Well which ones are your favorites?” 

Her eyes light up. “Well I am fond of the ladle because I have great memories with it.” She carelessly tosses it over her shoulder and it clatters into a pile of dented pots and already broken plates. “But my favorites are from Hira’a ‘cause they have  _ different  _ discardings.”

“Discardings?” Mai quirks a brow.

“It ain’t trash.” 

“Got it.” She has managed to coax another small snigger. 

“I like these a lot.” She holds out her hands and waits for Mai to do the same before dropping a handful of colorful wooden beads and a few feathers into her palms. “I think that they used to be part of necklaces. A bunch’a different necklaces. See how this bead is shaped a little different than the others. And this one is more oblong than round.” 

“I think that I got it.” 

“And this one’s a little chipped. I like the plain ones the best.”

“The plain ones?”

She nods. “Yeah, because those are the ones where you can really feel the trees.”

“Feel...the trees? How do you know that those were made from trees and not bushes?”

“I can just tell.” She shrugs. “Forest things speak to me.” 

“Alright then…” 

“No really!” She declares. Mai fights to keep the skepticism off of her face and knows that she has failed when the woman’s eyes dim some and she changes the subject, “I also got a bunch of colorful feathers and some bones!”

“What kinds?”

“Well this one’s from a paradise-peacock and this one’s from a humming-parrot!” 

“What about the bones?”

Mai doesn’t expect her to so readily and confidently answer, “these are fragments of a tiger-monkey spine and these are from mongoose-lizard. Most of them are fishbones though.” She looks around in a frantic sort of joy before declaring, “there they are!”

Mai looks at what she is holding. This time she is gushing over shells both bright and bone white. She also has a small bottle of sand and a prickly and dried urchin. 

“I take it that you found that yourself too?”

She nods. “Mohi lectured me for two hours about sea creature safety while the medicine lady was mixing me a remedy for the venom.” She puts her knick-knacks down and holds up a grubby hand. She lowers it to wipe it off before holding it up again to reveal a small puncture scar. 

“You are a strange and fascinating character.”


	4. Snapdragon

Mai finds that very little intrigues her. By Agni, she better cling to this one. Even if this one has taken to chewing on flower petals. 

“What are you doing?”

She shrugs. “Ya know, I’ve been looking at these things all day but I never thought to taste them.”

Mai is quiet for a moment as she fights to finds words that can truly convey the level of perplexion and mild stress that this woman is inducing. “Because they aren’t meant to be eaten? You know that some flowers are poisonous, right?”

“Yeah, those.” She points to a pot of datura. “These are fine.” She stuffs another marigold petal into her mouth. 

Mai gawks at the woman. 

“People eat sunflower seeds all the time.” She shrugs. 

“Yeah, the  _ seeds _ . Not the petals.” Her eyes widen as the woman holds up the marigold stem. She winks before setting it upon her tongue. “And not the stems.” 

“I’m gonna start my own business!” She declares. “I’ll serve flower petals and stems. No seeds though, because there’s too much competition there.” 

“You’re a menace.” 

“That’s what Mohi says.” 

The woman leans up against the wooden counter and gazes out at the early morning crowd. She gives a little yawn and stretches her arms. The trinkets around her neck bob and clank about. 

“Snapdragon.” Mai says suddenly and plainly.

“What?”

“I’ll call you Snapdragon.” 

“Why?”

“You just…” Mai starts. “Something about you reminds me of snapdragons. A snap is fast and sudden, you’re impulsive and entered my life out of nowhere. Dragons are fierce and bold. It doesn’t get much bolder than willingly ascending a rickety ladder ever day. So I’ll call you snapdragon.”

“Snapdragon.” The woman tests it on her tongue. “I’ll take it!” She leans back again. “Say, can you pass me another sunflower.”

“It’s not time for your lunch break.” 

“I won’t eat this one, I promise.” 

**.oOo.**

_ Snapdragon. Snapdragon. Snapdragon.  _

She has a name now! She grins. Someone values her enough to give her a name. She was certain that Mai had only said that she was waiting to find the right name so that she wouldn’t have to give her one. But she is Snapdragon now and Mai had actually put thought into the name. 

Snapdragon reaches the factory. Really, she ought to head home before Mohi starts to worry, but she finds that she is too antsy to just lay in bed. She thinks that it is an excited sort of jitter. The sort she usually only gets upon finding a new building to rummage through. 

And maybe it isn’t so different. Finding a new person is like scaling a new building; it is new and fresh. There’s unforgettable beauty and intrigue to be found and savored. A brand new view with lots of treasures to uncover. But there are twists and turns and hazards and she never knows where they are or when she will find them. Mostly she finds them when she steps upon them and finds herself knocked on her ass. 

At least with buildings she knows somewhat, what kind of traps and alarms there might be and how to avoid tripping them. With people it isn’t so clear cut. One wrong word and she finds herself ducking under fists. 

She doesn’t see Mai is much of a swinger though. Decidedly she doesn’t think that Mai has many traps to set off even if she were. The woman is so calm and soothing. A strange and amazing, yet nerve-wracking break from the type of rugged company she usually keeps. 

Even alone in her factory, she finds her cheeks flushing. Not for the first time, she wonders why the woman is even bothering with her. Mai smells of the flowers she works with and of lavish perfumes. She speaks like one of the educated folk--likely she is one. And Snapdragon...she smells like rust and dirt and, on some days, coal. She picks around in the trash…

Fleetingly, she wishes that she could just give up her ridiculous collection and get a normal hobby the way Mohi wishes for her. How lovely it would be to be able to trade scavenging for firebending, maybe then Zenyul and Kaz wouldn’t have so much to jab at her for. 

She shuffles up the ladder to her hoard and she wonders how she could have thought something like that at all. It isn’t her fault that they can’t see what she does. It isn’t her fault that they only see broken things. 

“Aye!” Zenyul’s voice echos through the factory. “You up there somewhere?” She hears footsteps. “Mohi said to come find you.” 

She scrambles further back into the crevice. 

“Alright, we’ll check the buildin’ over then.” Kaz calls. 

And she’ll beat them home. 

**.oOo.**

“You want to stay here and sell more flowers?” Mura asks.

“Is it that hard to believe?” 

“You were very hesitant about the crowd.” 

“I’ve gotten used to it.” She shrugs. “I know that it’s been doing your business a lot of good. Look.” She gestures to her growing heap of coins and gold pieces. “You can open a second location if I keep it up.”

“Things won’t be as busy without the festival.” Mura points out. 

“But the center of the Capital still gets more traffic than our village.” 

“And where will you be staying? I hadn’t planned on paying for an inn past the festival days.”

“Zuko’s an...a jerk but he’ll let me stay at the palace if it helps the family.” 

Mura opens her mouth to speak. 

“His owes our family after what Tom-Tom went through.” 

“Mai, your father put us in a difficult position. It isn’t entirely on the Fire Lord. His sister…”

“Is the worst person I have ever encountered. Used my father to kidnap children and cause public outrage. Let the Avatar take Tom-Tom in Omashu. Used me to…” She sighs. “Look, I don’t care if it was her fault or his. He’s not much better and he owes  _ me  _ for being a dreadful boyfriend. He’ll let me stay in the palace.”

“Do you even want to?” Mura asks. “If you’re angry with The Firelord then why do you want to stay with him.” 

“I don’t want to stay with him. I want a place to stay.” Maybe she could just ask Snapdragon if she could stay with her and, whatever that woman’s name was. Spirits, she wouldn’t be entirely opposed to sleeping in that abandoned factory if the woman would keep her company. 

“Is this really about the flower shop?” Mura frowns. “Or is this about the Fire Lord?”

It is about neither.

It is about excitement.

It is about feeling alive.

It is about holding on to the one thing in her life that makes her feel something. At the very least, the one thing in her life that makes her feel as though she has a chance to feel something. “It’s about the flower shop.”

“Speak with the Fire Lord and let me know what he says. If he gives you a place to stay, I’ll have some product sent to the palace.”

Agni, she hopes that Snapdragon and her adventurous spirit are worth the hassle of opening old wounds. She supposes that at least she’ll feel something, even if that something isn’t particularly good. At least she’ll still have a reminder that she isn’t hollow.

Why can’t she just feel something?

Why is she still so empty? 


	5. Daisy

She hears Snapdragon before she sees her. That steady and familiar clank-clack of her necklace. Mai could swear that she has added more knick-knacks to it. Her eyes hone in on it for a moment. She wonders if maybe the woman swaps out which trinkets she wears around her neck every now and again, or maybe she simply has several of these necklaces. 

“No flowers today?” 

“I’m all out?” 

“All out?” 

“I was only planning on sticking around until the festival was over.”

Snapdragon’s brows crinkle. “But I thought…” She swallows. “Mohi’s gonna be mighty disappointed.” 

It dawns upon her that she had forgotten to mention that when she had offered the woman a job. “Stop looking at me like that, I’ve decided to stay.”

The woman seems to perk up again. Mai doesn’t think that she has ever seen someone’s eyes light up so brightly. 

“What made you decide to stay?” 

“I guess that I needed a little excitement in my life.”

“Oh. Where are ya gonna get that?”

Mai quirks a brow. Snapdragon points to herself and Mai nods. “I’ve never explored an abandoned industrial park before. My parents would kill me.”

“Where are you gonna be staying?”

“The palace.” 

“The palace. How did you manage to get room there?”

“I used to date the Fire Lord.” 

She blinks. 

“It’s a long story. It ends...not so well. But he owes me and my family so I’m staying there.”

“That’s incredible. I’ve never been in a palace. Unless you count the factory. Sometimes I call that my palace and I made myself this throne, I can show it to you one day.” She resembles. Mai folds her arms and gives a slight smile as she continues. “But an actual palace...maybe one day you can take me there!” 

“The flowers aren’t in yet so we have a few days off. I can take you there now, if you want. We can get you to the royal spa and wash some of this dirt off of your cheeks.” 

“It’s not dirt, it’s oil and grease.”

“Because that’s much better. Come on.” Just as she turns around she catches Snapdragon rubbing her cheek. The effort was valiant and well-intended but she has only spread the grime to her nose and the back of her hand.

Mai wonders if the woman will even take well to having a real bath.

**.oOo.**

Up close the palace is twice as thrilling with its spoked and multi-tiered roof. What a delight it would be to get the chance to shimmy her way up the side of it and leap from tier to tier. To grip those large golden spokes and find footholds in the windows and on the balconies. Of course, she wouldn’t trade her factory for it but the offer is pretty. 

It is only when she lingers in its shadow that it becomes so terribly daunting. It isn’t so much about it’s impressive, awestricking size as it is the promise of what waits for her inside. All of those glamorous people and their lavish lifestyles. Their clean faces and pristine manners.

“Come on.” Mai gives her a gentle nudge. 

She quietly follows her up the stairs. More stairs than she has ever ascended in her life. 

“Nervous?”

“Why do you say that?”

“You aren’t chattering my ears off.” 

“This isn’t nervous silence, it’s a...uh...it’s a happy hush.” 

“A happy hush?” Mai quirks a brow. For once her amusement is quite thinly veiled. “If you say so.”    
  


Inside the palace is somehow more elegant than its grand exterior. Portraits and tapestries cover gold trimmed walls. Candles flicker in filigree wall holders fixed to many great pillars. Everything is huge, almost absurdly so. She wanders up to a vase and eyes it. She thinks that she can squirm her way into and stand within with her head only just peeking out of it. She makes off to try when Mai says, “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t you dare crawl into that pot.” 

Snapdragon frowns and scrambles to catch up with her. 

“You really like exploring, don’t you?”

She nods, “you should see the jungles of Hira’a. They were really fun to explore. I was found in a jungle, you know?” 

“That explains a lot.” 

They pass by several guards and servants. Their eyes seem to follow her. The unease works its way back in, pushing out her sense of adventure. She finds that the stares of the servants have nothing on the glances she receives when Mai leads her into the banquet hall. Around the table are what she can imagine are councilmen, esteemed generals, and noble folk. 

She had made a small effort to clean herself up today but she feels absolutely filthy amid all of them. They all smell so pleasantly and there isn’t a smudge of mud on them at all. Not on their finery and certainly not on their skin. 

Her tummy turns with flutters and queasiness.

“It’s alright.” Mai assures her. 

“I don’t think I fit in well with this lot.” 

The murmur as Mai leads her past them and she finds herself sticking close to the woman. 

“Hi, Mai.” The Fire Lord greets. 

“Zuko.” Mai returns the greeting. 

“Who is this?” 

“Just call her Snapdragon. You’ll understand if you talk to her more.” She pauses. “She wanted to see the palace so I’m giving her the tour and taking her to the spa.” 

“Please do.” Comments a man near the far end of the table. “She smells of industrial waste.”

“She smells like an alley dweller.” 

Snapdragon stuffs her hands into her pockets and tries to focus on something else. Something like the food. She has never seen so much of it in one place. She thinks that they have everything here; teeming blows of various and colorful fruits, plump roast duck, cabbage stew, miso soup, and plenty of noodles. And it all smells so enticing--unlike her, apparently. 

“If you want to take her there you can and then you can join us for dinner. She can wear one of Azula’s outfits.” 

At least some jubilance returns to her. She’s going to get to  _ taste  _ the delightfully scented food. Not only is she going to eat lavishly but she will get to do it in comfortable robes. 

“This way.” Mai beckons. 

The room she finds herself in next is also amazing. The dragon reliefs jutting from the backmost wall gleam in the sunlight that pours through a wide slit on the ceiling. There are plenty of shiny things in here. Glass bottles in many shapes and sizes, golden combs and brushes, a few small sculptures, and these little polished stones that accent the corners of each table. Snapdragon looks to the left and to the right before swiping one of the empty bottles and a polished stone. 

“How are you not in jail?”

“I take worthless stuff, I don’t get caught, ‘n you don’t tattle.” 

“You can keep the bottle, they won’t miss that. But, remember when you told me that sometimes you find stuff that isn’t trash and so people chase you?”

She nods.

“The stones aren’t trash. They’re rare gems and you will get chased.” She swipes the gemstone back and puts it at the corner of the table. “By the palace guard.” 

Snapdragon rubs the back of her head. “I’ll just keep the bottle.” She sits herself down and leans back. The chair isn’t exactly comfortable and the sink is cool on her neck. Though it becomes significantly more pleasant when the servants arrive and begin scrubbing shampoo into her hair. Yet it is still so jarring to find herself being spoiled like this. And she still has a bath waiting for her. They are surprisingly gentle when working the more matted knots out of her hair. A few times they cut the knots out entirely. They finish washing her hair and sit her up. She didn’t realize that she’d be getting a haircut. 

“There were a lot of knots that we couldn’t work with.” One of the servants apologizes softly. “We’re going to cut your hair and make it even.” 

She stammers out a word or two of consent and by the time that they are done with her, her head feels so much lighter. 

“I’ll show you to your bath.” 

She follows the girl to the bathroom and slips out of her dirty robe. Once she gets herself situated the servant offers smiles, “would you like me to?”

“Like you to what?” 

The girl laughs. “Give you a scrub.” She gently rubs the soap against Snapdragon’s shoulder. “Some nobles enjoy not having to do any of the work. The princess let us soap her back and arms but preferred to do the rest herself.” 

“Oh…” she replies. “I’ll do it myself.” It is one thing to lounge in the communal bath and another entirely to let someone get that touchy.”

The girl hands her the bar of soap. “When you are done with it you can hand it back.” She gestures to another girl. “And when you are ready to get out Yora has your towel ready. 

Snapdragon nods. She hadn’t realized that bathing was such a complex ritual. 

“Try to relax.” Yora says. “We’re here to make bath time more leisurely for you.” 

She supposes that it is nice to not have to scamper around for a towel and a change of clothes. She sinks into the tub and scrubs away at her arms until the water is dirtied. They drain it and fill it again until it comes away crystal clear. A floral aroma rises in languid curls of steam and she feels herself drifting off. She ought to savor the comfort because she probably won’t get a chance like this again.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Mai calls into the room. 

The reminder leaves her belly rumbling so she gestures for the towel. She wraps it around her body and Yora pats her hair dry with a second one. The first serving girl hands her the most elegant robes. 

**.oOo.**

She looks rather lovely. Well groomed and without that layer of, Snapdragon is rather pretty. Her eyes are wide and bright. Her freckled and soft. If not for the gaps in her teeth and her gangly limbs, she could very well pass for nobility. 

That is until she actually takes her seat and begins eating. She doesn’t do it with the poise that the rest of them do. In fact she is a fast eater and she doesn’t bother with silverware nor chopsticks. Not even with the soups. She makes her way through the platters eating only bits and pieces, as though she can’t decide what to eat. And Mai think that, that is just it. She has so many options that she doesn’t know which to choose. Her innocent curiosity is almost endearing. If only she had some table manners. 

At last Snapdragon seems to find a favorite and focuses on a helping of roast duck. 

“Very good.” She says between mouthfuls.

Mai’s face flushes for her. The woman is clearly blessed with obliviousness and with her focus entirely on enjoying her meal she is spared the weight of a roomful of judging glowers. The only other person who doesn’t openly gawk at her is Zuko, who makes an effort to look away. She guesses that he understands what it is like to be spellbound and captured by the grandeur of the palace and its spoils. 

Mai taps her and Snapdragon looks up from her roast duck. “You might want to slow down, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

And the ignorance is gone. Her face flushes. “They’re all staring at me.”

Mai grimaces. “Yeah. That too.” 

She has to admire the woman’s resilience. She finishes her roast duck and a bowl of miso soup in spite of the disgusted stares. She helps herself to a small dessert as well--a bite or two of mochi--before setting it down. 

**.oOo.**

Snapdragon leans back in her chair. She doesn’t think that she has ever been this full in her life. She certainly didn’t realize that being so full could ache like being completely empty. Though it is a much different kind of ache. A more sluggish, heavy ache. She supposes that it beats the painful, yearning kind. 

“You feel nauseous, don’t you?” Mai rolls her eyes. “I told you to slow down.” 

“I never get this much at Mohi’s place. I wanted to try…”

“A bit of everything.” Mai nods. “I can bring you back here again, you know.”

She surveys the table. Many of the nobles are pushing in their chairs and shooting her begrudging parting glances. “Do you think that’sa good idea?”

Mai shrugs. “Who cares. Honestly, I think that this place could use someone like you. It wouldn’t be so dull and uptight if everyone here wasn’t so…”

“If they didn’t act like someone shoved a prickly pear up their...”

  
  


Mai chuckles before cutting her off. “I was going to say rigid. But, yeah, that too.” 

Snapdragon folds her arms across her chest. 

“You got some sauce on your face.” She dabs at the corner of the woman’s mouth. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“I can’t stay here. Mohi gets worried. She ain’t say it but I know she does.” 

“Alright, I’ll let Zuko know that I’m taking you home.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t recommend that. Jus’ let me go, the streets ‘round Mohi’s ain’t nice at night.” 

“Then I’ll tell Zuko to loan you a pellinquin.” 

“I can walk by myself, I’m used to it. One time I took down three muggers, I only got one black eye and my nose was really swollen and…”

“I’ll also bring a few guards along.”

**.oOo.**

“Are you sure that you want to leave? If you want you can stay in the palace with Mai.” Zuko offers.

“I’m sure.” Snapdragon nods. “I like being in my nest.”

“Your nest?”

“Don’t get her started on that, Zuko.”

“It isn’t any trouble. I think that it would be nice to have you around a little longer.”

“Uh...no thanks.” Snapdragon murmurs. “I’ll come back with Mai some time.” 

“The nobles were making you uncomfortable, weren’t they? They’re usually not around.”

“I don’t think I belong in a palace.” Snapdragon says. “It’s easier out there, you know what’s goin’ on in people's heads. Nobles like to be all secretive and slick. That’s what Mohi says. In the streets you get punched in the face and then you know who to look out for. You never know who hates you in a place like this.” She takes a breath. “I mean I do ‘cause I guess that I’m such a freak that they couldn’t hide how they felt.”

“You’re not a freak, Snapdragon.” Mai sighs. “All of these people have decades of etiquette training. Do you know how hard they drill this stuff into your head? If you ask me, that’s what’s freaky.” 

“Did they drill it into your head?”

Mai sighs, “why do you think I’m so…” she gives Zuko a pointed stare. “Blah.” 

“You ain’t blah.”

“Thanks.” She mutters. “Can you loan us that pellinquin now, Zuko.” 

He inhales sharply. “I’ll get a few guards to accompany you.”

“Do you want to come back here some time?” Mai askes. “Or have you been traumatized.” 

“I don’t really like the folks here but…” She holds a hand to her tummy, “the food is great and,” she runs her fingers through her hair, “it’s nice to be all clean. Jasmine smells nice.” 

“How about this, I’ll tomorrow I’ll meet you at the factory and I can teach you some palace etiquette.” 

“I still wanna be in my nest.”

“We can converse in the palace gardens and in your factory. Don’t you want to explore a new place.”

Snapdragon nods. 

Mai takes just a moment to wonder just what she is getting herself into. But, Agni, the woman had been so delighted when she stepped into the palace. She supposes that Snapdragon will be worth the hassle of...of dealing with Snapdragon. Mai’s lips quirk up into a slight smile. “Alright, let’s get you back to Mohi’s.”


	6. Iris

Snapdragon feels all warm inside. She hasn’t had fresh bread since she’d left Hira’a. It is still warm and it melts like butter on her tongue. It tastes like butter to. She decides that, after her collection of shiny things, palace food is her favorite thing. She dangles her legs over the beam and lets the breeze play with her hair. 

“Can you scramble back in here?” Mai asks. “You’re stressing me out.” 

“Why?” 

“Aren’t you afraid that you’re going to fall?”

Snapdragon looks down. It wouldn’t exactly be a nice fall, the rubbish beneath the beam is mostly metal bits and blades from old war and industrial machines. But if she looks down in a different direction she can see a beach and a lovely sprawl of houses. “I like it up here.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

She shakes her head. “Nope, I ain’t afraid. I been up here so many times. It’s nice. You should come up here.” 

“No thanks.” She replies. “I don’t really care for heights.” 

Snapdragon shrugs. “Suit yourself. I like heights though. You get to be above everyone and usually no one can get to you so it’s peaceful.”

“Yeah, until you misstep.” Mai shudders.

“That’s why you practice down there first.” She points to a small stack of crates and a brick wall. “If you do it wrong you get scrapes and bruises…”

“And broken bones?”

“Only once!” Snapdragon declares. She holes out her arm and shows the woman another scar. “It weren’t so bad.” She taps her chin, “But Mohi says that’s only because I passed out ‘n so I couldn’t feel it.”

“You are not helping me like heights any better.” 

Snapdragon scrambles her way back across the beam and into her nest. “Have the flowers come in yet?”

Mai shakes her head. “They’re being delivered on a boat, it’s going to take a while.” 

Her eyes light up, “so since we have time, will you go trinket hunting with me?”

“I was actually hoping that you’d tell me a story.” 

“I like telling stories. What kind do you wanna here.”

“When we were at the palace, you said that you were found in a jungle.” 

Snapdragon nods. 

“What did you mean by that?” 

“I meant that I was found in a jungle. I think that I was born there.” She pauses. “I don’t really remember it much. I forgot a lotta things.” She thinks for a moment. “But Mohi can tell you! Can I introduce you to Mohi?” 

**.oOo.**

Mai isn’t sure that she wants to meet this Mohi woman. But Snapdragon is all to enthusiastic for her to turn the woman down. Anyways, she is rather curious about the woman’s origin story. And so she stands before a rundown little shack with lopsided shudders and a roof full of holes and cracks. 

Snapdragon gives the door several knocks. 

“C’mon in.” Calls a voice. “’S open, ya know that by now, girl.” 

“Mohi, I brought someone for you to meet!”

“Tha flowa lady?” 

The inside of the shack smells like cooking oil and scorched meat. She half expects an elephant-rat or a roach to crawl out of one of the cracks in the stained wall. But other than a clutter of clothes, old kitchenware, and some scattered scrolls the place is fairly clean. Cleaner than the decrepit exterior had hinted. She removes her shoes and sets them upon the mat by the door.

“Ya have to excuse tha mess. I tol’ tha boys to help me clean it but they’ve been blowing that off for firebendin’ and this one…” she gestures at Snapdragon, “keeps bringin’ junk home.” 

“It ain’t junk, Mohi!” 

“Then wha’s this?” She holds up some sort of metal plank. Perhaps a broken rafter or the blade of a propeller. 

“I dunno.” Snapdragon admits. “I just thought it were neat.” 

Mohi sets it aside with an audible groan. “She jus’ tosses things on tha floor. Makes more work for her motha.” 

“I’m gonna pick ‘em up.” 

“You’re her mother?”

“In a manner’a speakin’.” Mohi returns to her chopping block. She slices a carrot twice more and then adds, “I don’t suppose she’s gone ‘n tol’ ya that I foun’ ‘er in the jungle one night.” 

“She mentioned it.” Mai sits down.

“That’s what we’re here for, Mohi!” Snapdragon declares. “I was hoping you could tell her the story.”

“Let me jus’ finish wit these carrots. Maybe ya could help me wit ‘em. Or ya can start on the potatoes?” 

Snapdragon picks up a knife and a potato. 

“Ken ya cook?” Mohi asks. 

“Not very well.” Mai admits.

Mohi nods. “She was tellin’ me that ya is one’a tha uppa class ladies.” She gives the carrot another chop. The knife clomps on the cutting board. 

“I am.” Mai replies. “But I don’t mind giving this a try. It beats…” sitting in the palace with Zuko, enduring his awkward attempts to clear the air. “It beats home life.” 

“Aye. Then grab’a board ‘n a turnip. I’ll tell ya a story while we choppin’.”

“Leave the roots for me.” Snapdragon says. 

**.oOo.**

_ The night held a sweltering humidity. Moonless, cloudless, the sky was an uninterrupted canvas of stars. And the hog-monkies screeched while the toad-squirrels chittered and croaked and the crickets droned on and on. _

_ A middle aged woman tended to her garden, to the night blooming flowers, watching the flutterbats swoop down overhead. Mohi much preferred to do her gardening at night, safe from the sun’s hottest glares, safe from forced small talk with passing neighbors, and safe from the neediness of her sons--at least until the next morning.  _

_ She thought that it was boundlessly more pleasant to do yard work with fireflies for company. She’d seen far less spider-wasps too.  _

_ That night, the fireflies were particularly active, dancing in clouds like a current through the sea. She stooped down to pluck an iris. She tried not to look at the treeline, lately the jungle had been acting mighty strange. It glowed and it sang. It hummed with spirit energy, too much for her comfort. And more of it than she had seen in decades. It wasn’t a bad thing necessarily, but she has always thought that it was best to just leave the spirits to themselves. Of the dark or light, they could coexist side by side, never interacting, only quietly crossing the paths of one another.  _

_ And so she had maintained peace.  _

_ Peace, a bountiful garden and sugarcane field, and a family in good health. It was a lifestyle she could never trade. How could she give up waking up to the smell of sugarcane, bamboo, and wildflower every morning? How could she give up morning strolls into town to trade her sugarcane for fish and to watch a good theater performance with her boys?  _

_ Life was well. Life was prosperous. Life was everything she could have hoped for and she was almost certain that she owed it to the respect and care she had put into a land that is so close to the world of the Spirits.  _

_ And so when the spirits tossed her a young woman, she couldn’t bring herself to throw her back into the jungle. The poor thing stood at the treeline, dirty and scraggly haired. Mohi almost hadn’t noticed her. She wouldn’t have if not for the fireflies. They had all paused, going dark for a good while before lighting up again collectively in a spiral around the young woman.  _

_ Spirit energy radiated from her, the woman’s very skin hummed with it when Mohi took her hand. Quickly, instinctively, the young woman jerked her hand away with a snarl and ducked back into the jungle.  _

_ Mohi was inclined to let her return to the jungle from which she emerged. But she was human. Only human. And Mohi thought that she must have gotten lost out there and for a very long time. Such a long time that human contact had become foreign.  _

_ Or maybe she had never had it at all. Mohi was well aware of the parents who’d abandoned their unwanted or unplanned children in the jungle.  _

_ “C’mon chil’, let’s get ya inside. ‘S nice inside.” She’d tried coaxing the woman.  _

_ She’d retreated deeper into the jungle and deeper still until Mohi had lost sight of her and was willing to venture no further. But she returned the next night and the night after. And six moons from then she caught the woman eating an unripe and raw pineapple.  _

_ She’d coaxed her into the house with a sweetly smelling fruit basket. She’d disappeared again in the middle of the night. The jungle had grown quiet, the spirit activity seeming to cease. And just when Mohi thought that the girl was gone for good, Kaz had come running into the house complaining of a naked lady in their sugarcane field.  _

_ That day Mohi hadn’t taken any protest, and spirits did the woman put up a fuss. By sunset, she had the girl bathed, clothed, and seething with a feral brand of rage. Decidedly she would teach the woman some manners.  _

_ It would be quite some time before she would be able to leave the woman alone, mostly Zenyul would watch her when Mohi couldn’t. And it would be much longer before she could take the woman out in public. _

_ But when the woman finally began speaking in something other than grunts and clicks, it was a natural process. As though blockage had been cleared from a creek, speech had returned to her. Mohi had grown certain that the woman had gotten herself well and lost in that jungle, she only had to help her remember the civilized world she had once been a part of.  _

_ Her speech had been broken at first, hard to understand but she was getting there. _

_ And then she’d gotten there. _

_ Mostly, Mohi could forget that she had found the woman in the jungle. Mostly she was like everyone else, well groomed, clothed, and only somewhat less than well spoken.  _

_ Mostly, Mohi could return to her usual day to day endeavors. To the life she adored and cherished so well.  _

_ It was a nice home, a nice standard of living. _

_ If only the girl hadn’t had such wandering, thieving fingers.  _

_ If only the girl wasn’t prone to bouts of mischief and troublemaking. _

_ If only the jungle didn’t drive the girl mad on nights when the moon was new. _

_ It was a lifestyle she could never give up, and yet for the sake of this woman whom the spirits gifted her, she’d leave it behind. _

_ Leave it behind for a run down shack in the unpleasantly smelling outskirts of a city much too grand for her tastes.  _

**.oOo.**

Mai supposes that it makes sense; Snapdragon’s mannerisms and her taking comfort in nests and shiny things. 

“Did you like her?”

“Hmm?” Mai asks. 

“Mohi. Did you like Mohi?” 

Mai nods, “she seems like a nice woman. She takes cares a lot about you.” She wishes that her mother were as invested in her well being as Mohi is in Snapdragon’s. 

Snapdragon is quiet for a long while and Mai grows uncomfortable under the cloud of silence. “What’s wrong?” She finally asks. “And don’t try to tell me that this is a happy hush.” 

Snapdragon laughs but only briefly before her smile fades. “You think it’s weird, don’t you.” 

“That you used to run naked through the jungle and eat raw pineapples?” 

Snapdragon nods. 

“I thought it was weird to watch you eat a whole sunflower and then scamper up and into your nest.”

Snapdragon frowns. 

“I’m looking for strange.” Mai confesses. “Everything is so boring, Snapdragon! It’s the same thing every day; I would wake up and go to some council meeting with my dad or with Zuko when I was his girlfriend. I would have a nice meal and warm bath--rose scented soap every time. Sometimes I’d go for walks or talk with the other ladies in the palace. I used to talk to TyLee and that was interesting but then she left to join the Kyoshi Warriors and it was just me, Aunt Mura, Tom-Tom, and that flower shop. And then it was  _ even more _ of the same routine every day.” She pauses. “And then you invited yourself to work at my stall.”

Snapdragon curls her bangs around her finger. “I thought that…”

“Everything was just starting to blend together one really long dull day that never ended. I can tell the difference now.” Mai says. “It’s not boring. You make me feel things  _ because  _ you’re weird. I wish more people around here would just be bizarre and unpredictable. I wish I could scramble up a tower and surround myself with random items.”

“You can.” Snapdragon smiles. “You can visit my nest even if I’m not around. Just don’t break anything.” 

“That’s not the point, Snapdragon.” Mai says. “The point is; I know that you’re weird and I want you to keep doing that.” 

She  _ needs  _ her to keep doing that. Maybe if she does, she can start to break the monotony on her own. 

“Keep doin’ what?”

“Hoarding your knick knacks and eating more questionable parts of plants.” 

Snapdragon nods, “I can do that.” She fidgets with her metal propeller blade. “I have to drop this off. Will you spend the night with me? I never had a sleepover before.” 

Mai thinks of her comfortable bed in the security of the palace. She really ought to go there. But she is casting normalcy to the side now, doing the things that her mother would likely disown her for. “And I’ve never slept in an abandoned factory before.”

“It’s really nice ‘cept for when it’s windy and the breezes get in the air ducts and it makes these spooky noises. And sometimes…” 

“Let’s just get to the factory before I have second thoughts.” 


	7. Anemone

Mai hasn’t stopped by yet, Snapdragon supposes that it is just as well, she hasn’t finished her gift yet. It is quite simple but she is still proud of it. She hopes that Mai will enjoy it as much as she is thrilled to be making it. 

So far the necklace has six charms, a very vividly colored paradise-peacock feather, a small elephant-rat paw bone, a naturally polished and very shiny stone with a hole in it, an aged fork, a clam shell, and one of several old coins that she had found buried in the jungles of Hira’a. 

She thinks that the cord can hole at least one more trinket and a few beads. She scampers through her piles sorting through ribbons, thimbles, and empty bobbins. She inspects shards of glass before ultimately deciding that those are all too pointy to wear around the neck. She picks up a crab claw and puts it on its own pile, a candidate for being the final trinket. She finds her collection of beads and plucks out a few black and dark red ones, Mai seems to enjoy the gloomier shades. 

She scrambles over to her plant specimens. Mostly they consist of interestingly shaped twigs but there are several dried leaves, petals, and roots. She thinks that the leaves and petals are too frail to be threaded onto the cord. But the roots, those might very well work. 

And they would make sense too. Mai works with flowers and plants so the necklace should have at least something to represent that. Snapdragon’s current necklace represents her. 

She feels it against her chest. It has at least eight charms, a few of them don’t mean anything in particular to her. But she has recently added snapdragon roots between the tiger-monkey claw and her a dusty, broken geode. A tiger-monkey claw for her fierceness and her love of climbing and a rusty cog for her love of old factories and abandoned places. There is a coconut chip to remind her of her days in the jungle and a blunt tip of a broken dagger. She isn’t entirely sure about the geode but it speaks to her on some level. The coins, beads, and the piece of tattered red cloth are more for show than anything else. 

She twirls the root in her hand before ultimately deciding that they will be the perfect final addition to her necklace. She ties it onto the cord with a satisfied smile and holds it up. It is perfect, an asymmetrical cluster of things that don’t seem like they should go together. But they are harmonized in their chaos. 

Her smile fades, she isn’t sure that Mai would like to wear something so odd. Especially in a palace full of watching, judging eyes. She supposes that it’s okay if she only wears it around her and then takes it off when she gets to the palace.

**.oOo.**

It is raining quite heavily but Mai doesn’t particularly care. The pounding of the drops drowns out the angry beating in her mind. Zuko is being unbearable. Everything is an argument, everything is taken so personally. And she doesn’t care for that Jin girl that he has been bringing around. 

She can’t quite place it at first but she thinks that it might be a twinge of jealousy one that she wishes she could permanently purge. She isn’t sure why she is jealous, she has made it clear that things were over between the two of them. And yet she can’t shake that nagging sense that it should be she who is going to be attending Ember Island Players shows with him. That was their thing and now their thing is being shared with some ditzy, doe-eyed, air headed…

Mai tightens her fists in her pockets. Small puddles are gathering uncomfortably in the folds of her robes and she has no one to blame but herself. Why does Snapdragon’s factory have to be at the very other side of the city?

Why did she neglect getting herself a palanquin ride? Zuko probably wouldn’t have let her borrow one anyhow. Not mid-squabble. 

Her feet slosh through puddle after puddle, soaking through to her socks. She shudders, there is no greater discomfort. No greater suffering. 

But at least she isn’t bored. 

She finds Snapdragon, also soaked thoroughly, leaping from puddle to puddle. She, unlike Mai herself, seems absolutely delighted to be dripping wet. She hasn’t yet noticed mai. Even in the misty gloom, Snapdragon is a splash of color. The necklace she wears today is particularly flashy as it clanks against her chest. Mai is inclined to believe that she has chosen it specifically to stand out in the drabness. 

“I’m glad that you’re having fun.”

Snapdragon comes to an abrupt halt, kicking up a splash of oily mud. “I like rainy days sometimes.”

“You would enjoy playing around in the mud.”

“It’s too slick for climbing ‘n jumping on roofs today.” Snapdragon shrugs. “So I’m pretending that the puddles are roofs ‘stead.” 

“Interesting.” Mai remarks stoically. 

“I ain’t realize you liked walks in the rain.”

“I don’t.”

Snapdragon tilts her head, “then why are you walking in the rain?” 

She shakes her head, “just...don’t worry about it. Can we go inside, I need to wring my clothes and hair out.”

Snapdragon flounces over to the door and holds it open, “after you, hotwoman.” 

Mai rolls her eyes. Normally it would be enduring, today she just finds herself annoyed by the woman’s uppity antics. She sighs and gives her hair an overly forceful twist and squeeze. She can’t let herself take her frustrations out on Snapdragon. The girl has been nothing but pleasant. 

“Hey, stay right there! I gotta go get something!” 

She doesn’t give Mai a chance to answer before darting off and scrambling up her rickety ladder. It is probably a good thing, she very well might have muttered a harsh, ‘where else am I going to go, Snapdragon?’ Mai rubs her hands over her face. Maybe she should try to lighten the mood. Maybe she should try to drink in some of the delight that Snapdragon radiates.

The girl comes back down with another one of her gaudy necklaces. She is beaming from ear to ear. “What do you think?” 

Mai inspects the jewelry. “It’s...uh...it’s unique. Very you.” 

“I was trying to make it more you.” She holds it out. “See, the roots are supposed to represent your flower shop.” 

Mai tries to muster up a smile but it probably looks more like a grimace. 

“It’s for you.” She retracts her hand slightly and thrusts it out again. 

Mai takes a deep breath and tries for a joke, “I don’t know if I can pull off a trash necklace.” 

Maybe it is her deadpan delivery, or maybe she has simply uncovered and hit some hidden raw spot, but Snapdragon’s face falls. Mai could slap herself. “No, no. I mean it’s a cool necklace, I like it. I just wanted to make a joke.” 

Snapdragon forces a laugh. 

She doesn’t try to hand the necklace to her again. 

“You’re not going to offer it again?”

“It’s alright, Mai, you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to.” She forces a smile. 

“I do want to.” She holds her hand out. Snapdragon sets the necklace in her palm. Mai tries to make small talk with her but she mostly answers with simple yes or no’s while toying with the charms on her own necklace. 

And Mai considers that maybe Zuko isn’t the problem at all. Maybe it is her. She does have this amazing ability to drag everyone down instead of allowing them to lift her up. It always happens eventually. 

She wishes that she weren’t so unremarkable.

**.oOo.**

By dusk the rain comes to a slow. After an hour or so of getting nowhere in conversation, Mai had declared that it would probably be best to make her way back home before it gets dark and the second round of storm clouds roll in. 

She can see them lingeringly darkly on the horizon as she scuttles her way over a heap of wooden beams and crates and shimmies up the husk of an old war tank. She squeezes herself into the hatch and slips behind the wheel. She imagines the war machine roaring to life in a cough of black smoke. Imagines the raw power of it. Imagines being something more than just some downtrodden alley dweller. Maybe then Mai wouldn’t be embarrassed by her. 

Maybe then, she’d have a chance with the woman. 

Her gift was accepted out of pity and nothing more, she knows that Mai is just going to chuck the necklace aside when she gets back to the palace and pretend like she has no idea where it had come from. 

Snapdragon gives the rusty metal wheel a turn. 

Maybe if she spent less time lurking in abandoned places, people wouldn’t abandon affections for her. She supposes that it is hard to love someone who is constantly covered in dust and grime. All the same, she loves her hobby, she can’t really see herself without it.

She finds a little corner of the tank to curl herself up in and wait out the storm. It comes suddenly and with a surprising fury. From the sound of it, the drops are thick as they pelt the side of the tank. And the thunder shakes the ground. It is probably a horrid idea to hole up in a metal tank so she hustles out of it and into the rain. 

The puddles are no fun anymore and the rain throws itself violently into her face. She thinks of going into the factory but it is entirely metal too. The lightning strikes it over and over again with a terrifying fury. And yet it manages to stand on, powerful and admirable. She thinks that it is what keeps her safe from getting struck; the lightning is so enticed by it that it doesn’t bother with her as she heads towards Mohi’s home. 

The wind lashes at her with a fury and she wonders if and hopes that Mai has made it home. 

Maybe if she were a shaper, smarter, noblewoman she would have thought to offer letting Mai stay with her at Mohi’s. Would have walked there with her a while ago. 

But she isn’t smarter. She isn’t a noble woman. 

But she isn’t anything grander than what she is now. Isn’t anyone impressive. She’s just Snapdragon, a girl who doesn’t even have a  _ real  _ name.


	8. Shrub Verbena

Mohi knocks on her door for the fifth time that morning. “C’mon now, girl ‘s time to git brek’fes.” 

Snapdragon buries her face further into the pillow and bunches her fingers up in its ratty cloth. “I don’ wanna, Mohi.” She doesn’t want breakfast or lunch or dinner or to go to her factory or to do anything at all. She just wants to lay down with her cheek pressed against the pillow. 

“Kaz says ya come in las’ night all soakin’ wet.” Mohi calls through the door. “Ya catch sickness out there?” 

“Maybe.” She lies. “I don’t feel so good.” And she doesn’t, but it isn’t a matter of sickness so much as a tummy tickling sorrow. She bunches herself into a little ball. She had finally found someone willing to tolerate her odder quirks and she’d managed to push too far.

She should have known better than to try to push those quirks on someone who isn’t quite interested. 

She forces herself out of bed and makes her way out into the backyard. Zenyul and Kaz are already out there, sloshing through puddles and mud as they show off their bending. It would be mighty nice to join them. She doesn’t much feel up for a trip to her factory today. Maybe they can teach her to fight; even if she can’t bend it would still be nice to pick up a normal hobby. Maybe if she does that, she can have someone nice like Mai. 

Snapdragon ducks back inside and removes her necklace. She gives the thing one last look over. It doesn’t seem so pretty now. She drops it in with the rest of the trash and wanders back outside. 

“Zenyul, Kaz, I want you to teach me to do that stuff!”

The boys take pauses. 

“I thought ya said ya couldn’t bend?” Zenyul cocks his head.

“Anyways, don’t you have a building to scramble up?” Kaz asks. 

Her face grows hot. “I decided I’m done doin’ that. I wanna learn to…” She gives her best imitation of their bending. 

“Yer serious?” Zenyul asks. 

Snapdragon gives a firm nod, expecting to be met with a similar one. Instead Kaz bursts out laughing, “you can’t bend.”

“But I can do all’a them jumps ‘n flips, I do it all the time when I’m explorin’ the city.” Her face grows redder still. 

“Ya need fire ta firebend.” Zenyul quirks a brow. 

“Fine, ferget it.” She bunches her fists and kicks the nearest rock. She’ll teach herself to do those silly tricks. She’ll be better than Zenyul and Kaz both. She doesn’t even have fire but somehow she’ll manage it. 

**.oOo.**

Mai supposes that nervousness beats boredom. She doesn’t fancy walking in this part of Capital City alone. And she isn’t sure that Mohi will take well to seeing her at her doorstep after upsetting Snapdragon so thoroughly. 

She gives the door a quick knock. She hears the unlatching of a bolt and the turning of a lock. Mohi lumbers over her. Silently. Overbearingly silently. 

“I’d like to speak with Snapdragon.” 

Mohi’s eyes narrow. “She been sulkin’ all day ‘n nite coz’a ya.”

“It was a misunderstanding, I assure you.” Mai replies carefully. Perhaps more carefully than is needed. 

The woman has a bladed stare that bears a likeness to the sharpness of the knives tucked under Mai’s own sleeves. “Some misunda’standin’. Talk ta ‘er, but if ya make thin’s worse…”

“I won’t make things worse.” She promises. “Is she in her room?”

“She out back.” Mohi gestures.

Mai slips outside to find Snapdragon throwing kicks and punches at the air. Every now and then she stops to observe Zenyul and Kaz. It would seem that she is trying to bend. Her face scrunches up and she throws another punch.

“Hey.” Mai greets lamely. 

Snapdragon jerks before turning around. She forces a smile. “Oh hi, Mai.” 

“Don’t look at me like that.” It is somehow worse than Mohi’s glower. She can still feel it on her back, burning into her. She steals a peek over her shoulder and catches Mohi lingering at the window. “I’m here to ask you if you wanted to go out for dinner. I know how much you loved the palace food.”

Snapdragon tilts her head.

“And it just so happens that I have a new necklace that...well it doesn’t go with any outfit I own but I still wanted to wear it.” 

She holds up that ridiculous trash necklace. 

Now Snapdragon is beaming from ear to ear, a true picture of delight. Her eyes light up and it as if she has been jolted with a shock of energy; she grabs Mai’s hand, “come with me to the factory and help me find something to wear!”

She tugs Mai past Mohi. 

“Where’s yours?” Mai asks with a gesture to her own accessory. 

“Oh, I, uh…”

She hears a clacking from behind. “‘S right here.” She holds out the necklace. 

Snapdragon takes it from the woman’s hand and puts it around her neck. 

“That was in the garbage.” Mai points out.

“That’s where some of the charms came from in the first place.” Snapdragon shrugs. 

Mai sighs, she supposes that, that much is true. She wonders how many pieces of her necklace had been found in a rubbish bin. “I’m taking her for dinner. We might stay at the palace if Snapdragon is up for it.”

“Stay where ya like, long as ya ain’t hurt muh girl again. Don’ ya leave ‘er walkin’ alone in the rain like that anymore.” Mohi gives Snapdragon a little pat.

“It’s a sunny day, trust me, I’m only this nauseous when it’s this cheerfully bright. Snapdragon is going to have a great time.” Mai promises. The woman is already jittery with excitement. Mai isn’t sure if it is for the upper class meal she is about to receive or simply the prospect of going on a date. 

Mai comes to decide that it had to have been the food that Snapdragon was excited for. She finds that the woman is somewhat clueless. Oblivious. Mai waits for her to swallow her drink before inquiring, “you know that this is a date, right?” 

“A date?” She asks. “With...with me?”

Mai nods. 

“You ain’t embarrassed to be around me?”

Mai wouldn’t exactly go that far. It isn’t exactly comfortable to have so many eyes upon her. Especially eyes that do little to conceal the judgment within them. She thinks that they have been watching them since they arrived. And suddenly she reconsiders letting Snapdragon pick out her own outfit. 

All the same, she needs Snapdragon to know that she is loved for exactly who she is

All the same, it might be better if she learns to deal with eyes that judge. She could use a bit of Snapdragon’s spunk and creativity. The confidence it takes her to be truly herself; Mai wishes that she could have that. 

“Maybe a little.” Mai admits. “I don’t want you to change though.” She isn’t sure how to articulate it. “I guess that I wish other people would.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wish that they wouldn’t look at you like that.” With crinkled noses and upturned chins. 

Snapdragon shrugs. “I’m kinda used to it.”

She coughs awkwardly, “okay, there is one thing though.”

Snapdragon looks up from her soup. 

“Can you eat with spoons and chopsticks instead of your hands?”

Snapdragon frowns but she reaches for the chopsticks. 

**.oOo.**

Her tummy does all sorts of flops and flutters as they near the palace. She supposes that it isn’t quite as intimidating as it was the first time, but the jitters are still quite heavily present. She fiddles with the rusty cog on her necklace. 

“You’re slowing down.” Mai observes. Snapdragon shuffles to keep pace. “Don’t tell me that you’re still nervous.” 

“I ain’t sacred. I ain’t scared of anythin’.” Except for nobles and their passive-aggressive stares and remarks. She can already hear them complaining of her scent. “Do I get to use the palace bath again?” 

“Do you want to?” 

Snapdragon nods. “I like the soap bubbles.” She also likes those pretty delicate scents. Something about them is comforting. Something about them feels right. 

“Well the sooner you get inside, the sooner you can have a bubble bath.” Mai replies. “I can go for one too.”

“I asked first.” She darts up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She waits for Mai at the top. 

“Alright, you can take the first bath.” Mai agrees. She takes Snapdragon’s hand and gives her forehead a little kiss. Snapdragon’s whole face goes red. “But only because our first date went so well.” 

“It did?” 

“Did you have a good time.”

She nods vigorously, “it were wonderful. We gonna do it again?”

This time Mai kisses her nose. “You can pick the location next time.” 


	9. Wilting Malva Mallow

Snapdragon closes her eyes, leans back, and inhales the vapors. Lilac and firelily are the dominant scents. There is something about them. Something familiar. The way the way the scents intermingle brings her to a place that is both close and distant. She runs the bar of soap over her skin and tries to pull that distant thing closer. 

She doesn’t dwell much...doesn’t dwell at all on the blank spaces in her mind. But there is an itch within those spaces and the scents tickle them. She counts the freckles on her arms after cleaning them of dirt and grime. And this time they seem foregin. Foreign as though she isn’t sure if they are supposed to be there. 

She shakes her head and reaches for the shampoo. Her hair could use a very good scrub. She wonders if Mai well ask the servants to help her with that. Her hair is such a tangled mess that she isn’t sure she will be able to work with it on her own. She dips her head under the water and basks in the warmth it radiates. 

She is so very cozy. She wishes that her factory had a hot spring in or near it. She likes hot springs very much, she decides.

She leans her body against the rocks and inhales the lilac. She can’t shake the feeling of familiarity. She pushes it to the back of her mind; of course it feels familiar, she has done this once before. 

She stares at the hand that rests upon the spring’s rocky deck. It is rough and calloused. It is familiar. 

One of several serving girls slips back into the room, “Mai would like to know if you’re done with your bath yet.”

Snapdragon nods and holds out her arm for the towel. The girl hands it over and she pats herself dry. She scampers around for her robe...granted it isn’t actually hers. She tugs it on and fusses with the sash. After a few moments of watching her struggle, the serving girl offers her a hand. “Tight enough?” She asks. Snapdragon nods again. “Where is Mai?”

“Waiting for you in the spa.” 

Her eyes light up, “do I get to use it too?”

The serving girl smiles, “unless you think that you can fix this mess on your own.” She ruffles Snapdragon’s hair. 

She shakes her head, “I wasn’t even planin’ on tryin’ to fix that.”

The girl leads her to the spa. With each corner turned, Snapdragon finds herself more daunted, the palace is so huge. It would only take getting distracted and falling behind for her to get lost within its expansive halls. She wonders if the Fire Lord even knows how to navigate it. 

“Here we are.”

“I finished my bath, Mai!” She declares proudly. A few of the serving girls cringe and she recalls that these folks don’t enjoy loud greetings. They don’t seem to enjoy loud things in general. She mumbles an apology as walks towards Mai. Mai who doesn’t seem particularly bothered by her overly enthusiastic outburst. “I keep forgettin’ about the palace rules.”

“They aren’t official rules.” Mai rolls her eyes, “you should here Zuko when he’s frustrated.” She gestures for Snapdragon to sit. “His father too. That whole family is pretty loud.”

“Lean your head back.” The serving girl instructs. 

“Oh yeah.” Snapdragon replies, “I’ll do that. Can you use the same shampoo that you used last time? I liked that smell.”

“Which ones did we use the last time?”

Snapdragon looks at Mai who gives a little shrug. And then her eyes widen for a flicker. “Firelily and jasmine.”

“I dunno how you remembered that.” Snapdragon mumbles as the serving girl retreats to fetch the bottles. 

“Uh...they used to be Azula’s favorites. You smelled like her…”

Snapdragon somehow gets the impression that this isn’t a good thing. “Well I can use firelily and…” she taps her chin. “And snapdragon! I am Snapdragon so I can smell like snapdragon!”

“That makes sense.” Mai agrees with a slight smile. “You think that you can handle being a lone for a bit, I’m going to go find Zuko and let him know that you’ll be spending the night here.”

Her tummy flutters once at the notion of being alone with only the servants and twice at the reminder that she will be staying here at the palace with several more hours of time to make both she and Mai look foolish. At least now she won’t be dirty and grubby when she does it. 

“Okay, I’ll stay.”

Snapdragon shakes her head. The woman running a comb through her hair sighs and gives her another reminder to keep her head still. Snapdragon mumbles another apology. “It’s fine Mai, I can be alone for a bit.”

She regrets saying so as soon as Mai leaves the room. There may not be any uppity nobles about this time around, but even the serving girls seem to have more class and poise than she. Everyone is so elegant, they can bury her under as many fine silks and scents as they please but she doesn’t think that they will ever truly be able to drive out the scents of Capital City’s lower ring smog. “What is this?” The girl with the brush plucks a cluster of pine needles from her hair. But Agni, are they giving it their best shot.

“That must be from when I were trying to reach the bird’s nest. I were gonna take it down if there were no eggs in it.” Snapdragon explains. “I climbed up all the way to near the top of the tree…”

“The sap is practically gluing your hair together.” 

That doesn’t exactly sound like an easy fix. 

The serving girl sighs. “I hope that you’re comfy. This is going to take a while and if I can’t wash the sap out then I will have to give you  _ another  _ haircut.” 

Snapdragon swallows. She wishes that she weren’t such a burden, if only she had nice, silky hair like Mai’s. 

“Ami, you’re making her uncomfortable.” 

Snapdragon recognizes this voice. It is the serving girl she had met first. Yora, if she recalls correctly.

“She could use some discomfort if you ask me.” Ami mutters. “Look at this.” She holds up a clump of her hair. The strands are held together by a decent glob of pine sap. 

Yora chuckles. “I’ll work with this, you just shampoo her hair.” She turns her attention to Snapdragon. “And you just relax, trust me you’ll feel much better after this.”

Snapdragon can believe that, she already feels better, more respectable now that she smells like firelily. Yora is a lot more careful than Ami, she still snags Snapdragon’s locks but she doesn’t yank at them. She closes her eyes, she must admit that it is relaxing to have the shampoos massaged into her hair. 

Like the spring water, the steams that they pour over her head are kindly hot. She watches tendrils of steam twist and curl towards the ceiling. She thinks that she can nearly see the scents on them; she imagines that the firelily would take on a vivid orange and that the snapdragon would be a flashy red smoke. 

“Cherries?” Offers a new serving girl. 

With a grin, Snapdragon pops one into her mouth. She may not be able to get used to this, but she certainly enjoys it. She takes a second cherry and a third. And then she loses track of how many cherries she has eaten. 

“We’re almost done.” Yora says. “I’m going to have to give you a bit of a haircut though. I can’t seem to get this one clump of sap out.” 

“Okay.” Snapdragon agrees. She takes another cherry from the bowl and bites down. “Ow!” Momentarily forgetting her about her surroundings, she spits the cherry pit out. She hears it ping against one of the decorative vases. 

Ami pinches the bridge of her nose, “someone pick that up.”

Snapdragon rubs the side of her mouth. She wishes that she hadn’t bitten down so hard. She supposes it could have been worse; she could have swallowed it and choked…

The serving girl scrubbing the callouses off of her feet pauses. 

The sense of deja vu comes over her again but with more potency. A headpoudning potency. To further spike Ami’s irritation, she shifts uncomfortably in the chair. This sense of familiarity itches at the back of her mind. Whatever it is, it is just out of reach. Just out of reach in just the same way that recollections of her time in the jungle are. 

“Don’t let Ami bother you.” Yora leans in and whispers. “She’s a stern old flutterbat.” 

Snapdragon allows the comment to wash away her unease. She gives a little laugh.

“I thought that it was funny.” Yora continues. “It would have been even funnier if you spit it out at one of those guards. They’re no fun.” 

Snapdragon laughs again.

Ami inhales through her nose, “ _ please _ . Sit still.”

“Sorry.” She mutters again. 

She leaves the spa feeling quite refreshed, her head feels so much lighter now that it isn’t loaded with sap, pine needles, and twigs. She feels lighter in general. And the aroma of firelily and snapdragon leaves her with the sensation that she could levitate, could drift away on a cloud of their perfume. 

She holds her sleeve to her nose. She expects it to smell like the shampoo but she finds that it has a scent of its own; firelily and jasmine with a touch of smoke. 

Her head begins to ache again.

**.oOo.**

“What’s wrong, you’re not acting like yourself tonight?” Mai frowns. 

She doesn’t feel much like herself tonight.

“You’re all quiet again. Are you still anxious about being surrounded by nobles?”

That must be it. She is still nervous. She nods, “a little.” Though she isn’t sure that that truly is what is bothering her. She can’t think of anything else that it could be though. 

“I’m surprised that you aren’t shaking with joy. You were really excited for another palace banquet.”

And she was. She thinks that she still is. Though, at the same time, she doesn’t have much of an appetite at the moment. Mostly she feels queasy? Foggy? Distant? She isn’t exactly sure what she is feeling. Other than unwell. “I feel…”

“You look pale.” Mai notes.

Snapdragon nods. “I feel sick.” That doesn’t quite fit either but it is the closest thing that she can think of.

“Do you want to skip dinner and go see the palace physician.” The Firelord offers from the head of the table. “They’re really good, I promise.” 

She shakes her head, “I want food first. I came here for the food.”

Mai chuckles, “that sounds more like you.”

Snapdragon smiles. Maybe she’ll feel better after a gourmet meal. Maybe she’ll feel more like Snapdragon if she does things that make Snapdragon happy. 


End file.
